§ Mr. Darlingasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if adequate supplies of fowl pest vaccine are available to meet all demands, especially in the worst affected areas.
§ Mr. SoamesAdequate supplies of subsidised fowl pest vaccine are available to meet the demands in the worst affected areas. Issues of the subsidised vaccine were made available on 5th November in Lancashire and in ten Eastern counties, and supplies were extended to Hampshire and Nottinghamshire on 12th November. We hope to make supplies available throughout the country by the end of the year.
§ Mr. DarlingIn thanking the Minister for that assurance, although, perhaps, greater speed may be needed, may I ask him a question about the vaccine? Are there any difficulties about storing it? If not, would it not be a good idea to have consultations with the manufacturers to ensure that we have adequate supplies in hand? If we get far too many supplies, could we not consider helping some of the new nations in the Commonwealth who have the fowl pest problem on their hands, too?
§ Mr. SoamesI do not foresee any difficulty in supplies once we get the original supplies moving. We must get an impetus behind the work, because it is a new event to manufacture this vaccine on so big a scale. However, I do not envisage any difficulty in supplies once we have the whole country covered. As to helping Commonwealth countries, this could certainly be looked into if any other country wished to follow our example and to go in for a policy of dead vaccine.